A conventional standalone home voicemail system allows a user to screen incoming calls by listening as the caller is leaving the message and then, if desired, pick up the telephone while the caller is leaving the message to speak directly with the caller. PBX systems, including newer voice over IP systems, may use a centralized voicemail processing system for recording messages from incoming callers. Thus, it may be difficult to listen to a message being left by a caller while the caller is leaving the message. In addition, it may also be difficult to transfer a call to a user after the call has been initially transferred to the voicemail processing system.
It is desirable to provide a system that allows a user of a PBX system to listen to an incoming call while a caller is leaving a voice mail message and allows a user to pick up the call and speak directly to the caller after the caller has started to leave a message.